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| Education employment accessibility & political rights key requirements for empowerment of disability Sector | | World Disability Day |
Javed Ahmad Tak
Today is World Disability Day. The theme for this year’s World Disability Day is "Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future." The theme defines & guarantees the role of Society and Government in a more inclusive and sustainable world for all. It also highlights the importance of the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes and in development of the Nations. The yearly observance of the World Disability Day for persons with Disabilities was proclaimed in 1992, by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3. The commemoration of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability and extend support for the safeguard of rights & ensure well-being of persons with disabilities. The day gives us opportunity to create inclusion of persons with disabilities in every aspect of Social, Cultural, Economic & political life.
On 16 December 1992, the General Assembly appealed to Governments to observe 3 December of each year as International Day of Disabled Persons. The Assembly further summarized the goals of the United Nations regarding disability and asked the Secretary-General to move from consciousness-raising to action, placing the Organization in a catalytic leadership role, which would place disability issues on the agendas of future world conferences. In the same year, the Economic and Social Council endorsed the proclamation of 1993-2002 as Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, a decision taken by the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific, in order effectively to implement the World Programme of Action in the Asian and Pacific region. In 2006 The United Nations gave a huge gift to disability Sector by introducing The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is an international human rights treaty dealing with the rights of Persons with Disabilities. With this initiative Rights of persons with Disabilities Act was created replacing Indian Disability Act 1995 after twenty years. The disability sector is the most deserving section of society at the bottom of all strata. The sector has well educated population but disability sector face immense challenges and struggle to attain overall development.
Education of persons with disabilities has been full of challenges for persons with disabilities. The school buildings are not accessible to all types of children with disabilities. Although the children with disabilities have been given term Children with Special needs but the special needs are not catered. There is no appropriate learning material available in all schools. The special educators, sign language interpreters and rehabilitation therapists are not available in schools. Thus most of the children with disabilities get dropped out despite tall claims from the SAMAGRAH Shiksha. The slogan of 100% literacy count has failed so-far because children with disabilities are not been included in the educational processes. The classroom accessibility, washroom accessibility and lack of access to drinking water have not been available in educational institutions. Thus surveys shows more than 88000 children with disabilities enrolled and out of school have challenges to continue schooling. The children with communication disabilities don’t find appropriate teaching in any school because no sign language teachers are available. The private schools mostly deny the admission and there is no accessibility but huge barriers in private schools for children with disabilities thus violating the Right to education act and RPWD Act. There is no curriculum available for children with intellectual disabilities and all children with disabilities have to compete with hard curriculum fixed by J&K Board. During exams the students are not given reasonable accommodation but are accommodated in top floors. Some students with blindness, severe neurological conditions, low speed and upper hand disabilities don’t get scribe or amanuensis on time. Thus a huge time stands wasted for students with disabilities. There is no transport facility available for students with disabilities.
The higher education institutions including colleges, University campuses and professional colleges are not disable friendly. The class rooms have lot of barriers for students with disabilities in higher education and professional institutions. The marks relaxation is not given to students with disabilities in UG & PG programmes. There are no sign language interpreters available in colleges and universities. There are no parking slots reserved for students with disabilities in higher education institutions. There is no access to wash stations and basic amenities to students with severe disabilities. The students with communication disabilities especially hearing and speech disabilities are denied admission in colleges because of no appropriate teaching faculty thus 90% students with hearing and speech disabilities get dropped out from higher education.
The Reservation for Persons with Disabilities should be vertically fixed and removed from Horizontal directions and fixed on vertical column as fixed for other categories. As J&K Cabinet has recently decided to establish a three-member sub-committee of Ministers to take a holistic view of the reservation issue. They will review past actions, including recent Supreme Court directions, and evaluate whether the government’s steps are aligned with those directives. Thus Disability sector reservation also needs to be reviewed so that most deserving category that has been neglected from years can be given due as per their challenges. In most of the cases the reservation is extent to attract and exploit the Underprivileged categories but extending reservation on empathetic basis to persons with disabilities is the Social Responsibility. Persons with disabilities cannot do hard manual labour but can perform well if equipped with education and skill. The disability sector is most deserving we should get 6% vertical reservation in jobs and our upper age limit for seeking jobs 48 years. Otherwise we the persons with disabilities will suffer till we exist. The government must organize special employment drive for educated persons with disabilities and direct private sector including private banking sector, telecom companies, hoteliers and other IT companies to organize job fairs for disability sector.
Educated persons with disabilities face immense challenges and barriers to seek employment against the reservation guaranteed by rights of Persons with disabilities Act 2016. The biggest hurdle is that Government order Job identification has shrunk the jobs for persons with disabilities. Recently JKSSB & JKPSC notified many posts but persons with disabilities were not served any reservation. Here are various posts which have been introduced new in the jobs of J&K cadre but these jobs have not been included in the Job identification Government order. The person with blindness, hearing speech disability, two arm persons with disabilities and both legs have not been included for some posts on which they can work easily. The TWO ARM Ph.D. degree holders are even not eligible for teaching post. Thus revival of job identification Government order has become mandatory in presence of educated youth with disabilities. So that career of youth with disabilities is saved. The Job identification government circular needs immediate revival and Jobs need to identify so that all 21 types of benchmark disabilities seek jobs. Recently JKSSB notified selection list of Supervisors under Mission Poshan ICDS, Unfortunately the women with disabilities who qualified the test still wait for notification of selection list. In the same analogy Multitasking post selection list was notified after two years after the list notified for other categories. The discrimination towards educated persons with disabilities by JKSSB and JKPSC is very unfortunate affair and violation of Honourable Supreme Court orders, Rights of Persons with disabilities Act, UNCRPD and Constitutional guarantees.
Government of J&K has been providing marriage Assistance to the woman that are going to marry. The women with disabilities too should be given marriage assistance under special scheme. The assistance should be around 1 lakh rupees to arrange the marriage and fulfil the requirements of the marriage. The men with disabilities should also be given Marriage assistance so that marriages are initiated among persons with disabilities.
Under Integrated social security scheme the persons with disabilities get cash assistance of rupees 1000/- under direct transfer benefit through bank accounts. Which doesn’t cater all the needs of persons with severe disabilities. Various persons with disabilities have high support needs. They depend on catheters, urine bags, dressings for wounds, bed sheets, ointments, antibiotics and other course medicines to treat epilepsy and other psychiatric ailments. In various states and union territories like Goa, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tilangana, Andra Pradesh, Orissa etc. the social security pension for persons with disabilities is 5000 to 15000. The rising prices have made our lives miserable and put us in odd situations. The government of J&K should immediately announce 6000 rupees per month social security pension in favour of persons with disabilities so that miseries because of financial constrains end soon.
The persons with disabilities are dependent on Integrated Social Security scheme that is Rs 1000. The amount is not paid regularly on monthly basis. Still the families headed by persons with disabilities are charged by high electricity cost and water supply cost. How families depending on social security can pay the service charges. Government should devise a policy for providing complementary services to families headed by persons with disabilities, so that they don’t face odds and hardships.
Government of J&K has started e-governance for the every department but there is no separate column about the persons with disabilities. Every form and scheme should include persons with disabilities in order to create an inclusion. There should be a column about that Disability so that persons with disabilities are catered and given the reservations and benefits.
Government of J&K has designed Advisory Board for persons with disabilities but the meetings of advisory board are not happening. The advisory board meetings should happen at regular intervals. National trust act 1999 has been implemented in J&K but local level committees have not been formulated in all the districts. The meetings are not happening in time thus persons facing Autism, cerebral Palsy, mental disabilities and multiple disabilities have been facing difficulties. Various schemes under national trust Act if implemented well will minimize the sufferings of persons with intellectual disabilities and their rights will be safeguarded.
All the underprivileged sections of the society have been served with Political reservation so that the representatives of such sections can highlight and discuss the solutions for problems faced by such sections. Disability sector has not been considered as the vote bank and no political reservation is being extended to the Disability sector. The best way to empower disability sector is to provide the political reservation, so that inclusion is created from Parliament of India, Legislative assemblies of all the states and union territories and in Panchayti raj / local / self-governments from grass root level.
All the places including Hospitals, government offices, educational institutions, gardens, parks, places of recreation are inaccessible to persons with blindness, wheelchair users, neurological disable persons and children with disabilities. Thus disability sector remains confined to four walls and included in the social, political and developmental activities. Prime Minister of India introduced accessible India campaign to repair old buildings and amend their designs to make them accessible and disable friendly but the saddening part is that new infrastructure under construction is full of barriers and there are no ramps, lifts, tactile paths created in new infrastructure. The construction agencies in J&K completely insensitive about the disability rights. The PWD department has number of ongoing construction sites they should held access audit for such buildings to make the infrasture friendly for all humans.
The government should make disability sector productive part by providing education, employment, access to services and political reservation and not to devise charity oriented dependent schemes through which disability sector will turn into parasite section disliked and rejected by the societies. The slogan of disability sector (BE a Part NOT apart) should be implemented at grass root level and while polices are framed the think tank and intellectuals of disability sector should be consulted.
(The writer is a Padma Shri Awardee Disabilty Rights Activist and Honorary Chairman, Humanity Welfare Organization HELPLINE NGO, Bijbehara,Kashmir. Contact no-7006139823)
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